Margaret Giles

Meta-Analysis Of Economics Research Reporting Guidelines

Meta‐regression analysis (MRA) can provide objective and comprehensive summaries of economics research. Their use has grown rapidly over the last few decades. To improve transparency and to raise the quality of MRA, the meta‐analysis of economics research‐network (MAER‐Net) has created the below reporting guidelines. Future meta‐analyses in economics will be expected to follow these guidelines or give valid reasons why a meta‐analysis must deviate from them.

Are estimates of the value of a statistical life exaggerated

The magnitude of the value of a statistical life (VSL) is critical to the evaluation of many health and safety initiatives. To date, the large and rigorous VSL research literature has not explicitly accommodated publication selectivity bias (i.e., the reduced probability that insignificant or negative VSL values are reported). This study demonstrates that doing so is essential. For studies that employ hedonic wage equations to estimate VSL, correction for selection bias reduces the average value of a statistical life by 70-80%. Our meta-regression analysis also identifies several sources for the wide heterogeneity found among reported VSL estimates.

Is there an economic case for investing in nursing care - what does the literature tell us?

Aim To determine the cost effectiveness of increasing nurse staffing or changing the nursing skill mix in adult medical and/or surgical patients? Background Research has demonstrated that nurse staffing levels and skill mix are associated with patient outcomes in acute care settings. If increased nurse staffing levels or richer skill mix can be shown to be cost-effective hospitals may be more likely to consider these aspects when making staffing decisions. Design A systematic review of the literature on economic evaluations of nurse staffing and patient outcomes was conducted to see whether there is consensus that increasing nursing hours/skill mix is a cost-effective way of improving patient outcomes. We used the Cochrane Collaboration systematic review method incorporating economic evidence. Data sources The MEDLINE, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus and PsychINFO databases were searched in 2013 for published and unpublished studies in English with no date limits. Review methods The review focused on full economic evaluations where costs of increasing nursing hours or changing the skill mix were included and where consequences included nursing sensitive outcomes. Results Four-cost benefit and five-cost effectiveness analyses were identified. There were no cost-minimization or cost-utility studies identified in the review. A variety of methods to conceptualize and measure costs and consequences were used across the studies making it difficult to compare results. Conclusion This review was unable to determine conclusively whether or not changes in nurse staffing levels and/or skill mix is a cost-effective intervention for improving patient outcomes due to the small number of studies, the mixed results and the inability to compare results across studies.

Data for the Study of Road Crashes in Australia

The purpose of this study was to document the variety and relative usefulness of road crash databases in Australia. Although analysis of some of these databases has been published in a variety of Australian and overseas publications, and the existence of these databases is known generally within the road crash research community in Australia, such a comparison has not been previously documented in this way. In Australia, the number and characteristics of road crashes have been or are being recorded in primary or secondary source databases. This paper examines only primary source databases, some of which are specifically constructed from road crash information. For example, Main Roads, Transport Traffic and/or Police authorities in each state and territory maintain databases of reported (to the Police) road crashes. These databases are used to identify blackspots in the road environment, and assess both crash incidence and causation over time. Other primary source databases pertain to data collections made for other purposes. For example, state and territory health authorities collect in-patient, including injured road users, data for public and private hospitals. Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments of metropolitan public hospitals collect, out-patient data. Motor vehicle insurance companies collect data on motor vehicle damage claims. A discussion of the usefulness of these primary source databases in both aggregate road crash costings and cost-benefit analyses of road crash prevention and injury reduction programmes in Australia reveals some important shortcomings and recommendations for improvements. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E202275.

An Observational Study of Bail Decision-Making

Pre-trial detention of defendants has important legal, human rights and practical implications for defendants, their families, and society and therefore the area justifies research scrutiny. However, there is a dearth of empirical studies of bail decision-making and most of them have been retrospective studies. Prior studies have nevertheless identified a number of purported shortcomings in bail legislation and decision-making. The rarely used observational methodology employed in this study provided data that are not normally available from official records. The first appearances of 648 defendants were observed in the lower courts in metropolitan Perth (Western Australia) to identify factors that play a significant role in bail decision-making and to collect baseline data for a longitudinal study. Legal factors made a significant contribution to the bail decision, while extra-legal factors did not.

The impact of vocational education and training programs on recidivism : a systematic review of current experimental evidence

Although the association between unemployment and offending is well established, relatively little is known about the impact of vocational education and training programs on re-offending, with much of the previous work in this area failing to control for, or correct, selection bias. This article reports the findings of a systematic review, which considers the findings of only those studies that have used experimental or quasi-experimental designs to evaluate vocational training and employment program outcomes for adult offenders. The analysis identifies key features, based on these studies, of those programs associated with the best outcomes and recommends selection criteria for those who are most likely to benefit from prison vocational education and training.

Prisoners' Labour Market History and Aspirations: A Focus on Western Australia

This paper examines the employability and labour market aspirations of prisoners. The results suggest that repeat prisoners are less likely to be employed than non-repeat prisoners. However, a large proportion of the employment differential between repeat and non-repeat prisoners is due to differences in coefficients. There is no evidence to suggest that the frequency of incarceration affects individual characteristics that may limit prisoners’ labour market aspirations after their release from prison.

Correcting for Selectivity Bias in the Estimation of Road Crash Costs

Police road crash data comprise a non-random sample of the true population of road crashes, the bias being due to the existence of crashes that are not notified to the Police. Heckman viewed similar problems as ‘omitted variables’ problems in that the exclusion of some observations in a systematic manner (so-called selectivity bias) has inadvertently introduced the need for an additional regressor in least squares procedures. In the case of Police road crash data, selectivity bias arises from factors affecting the notification of crashes to the Police, such as the number of vehicles in the crash and the type and location of the crash. Using Heckmans methodology for correcting for this selectivity bias, Police road crash data for Western Australia are reconciled with total road crash data in the estimation of the property damage costs of road crashes.

Psychometric Properties of Scheier and Carver's Life Orientation Test in a Sample of Australian Prisoners:

The psychometric properties of Scheier and Carvers 1985 Life Orientation Test (LOT), which is a measure of optimism, were examined as part of a study of education, training, work experience, and expectations of sentenced adult prisoners in Western Australia. All prisoners at five metropolitan public prisons were invited to participate and 453 accepted. This represented a response rate overall of about 41%, with response rates at each of the individual prisons ranging from 13% to 90%. The average age of the prisoner sample was 34.4 yr. (SD= 10.2 yr.). The proportion of men in the sample was 79.7%. Mean sentence length was 66.9 mo. (58.5 for women and 69.2 for men), and the number of months of sentence remaining averaged 44.4 mo. (41.0 for women and 45.3 for men). Means and standard deviations of the LOT scores for prisoners were similar to those of other groups, and demographic differences between prisoners were not statistically significantly related to scores. The internal reliability of the LOT scores was acceptable. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the two-factor item-keying model fitted the prisoner data better than a one-factor model. However, the two factors did not simply reflect underlying optimism and pessimism constructs but were substantially affected by item keying.

Telehealth for paediatric burn patients in rural areas: a retrospective audit of activity and cost savings

INTRODUCTION Since 2005, the Western Australian paediatric burn unit has provided a state-wide clinical consultancy and support service for the assessment and management of acute and rehabilitative burn patients via its telehealth service. Since then, the use of this telehealth service has steadily increased as it has become imbedded in the model of care for paediatric burn patients. Primarily, the service involves acute and long term patient reviews conducted by the metropolitan-located burn unit in contact with health practitioners, advising patients and their families who reside outside the metropolitan area thereby avoiding unnecessary transfers and inpatient bed days. A further benefit of the paediatric burn service using telehealth is more efficient use of tertiary level burn unit beds, with only those patients meeting clinical criteria for admission being transferred. AIM To conduct a retrospective audit of avoided transfers and bed days in 2005/06-2012/13 as a result of the use of the paediatric Burns Telehealth Service and estimate their cost savings in 2012/13. METHOD A retrospective chart audit identified activity, avoided unnecessary acute and scar review patient transfers, inpatient bed days and their associated avoided costs to the tertiary burn unit and patient travel funding. RESULTS Over the period 2005/06-2012/13 the audit identified 4,905 avoided inpatient bed days, 364 avoided acute patient transfers and 1,763 avoided follow up review transfers for a total of 1,312 paediatric burn patients as a result of this telehealth service. This paper presents the derivation of these outcomes and an estimation of their cost savings in 2012/13 of AUD 1.89million. CONCLUSION This study demonstrates avoided patient transfers, inpatient bed days and associated costs as the result of an integrated burns telehealth service.